Apparatus for handling sawn timber

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to an apparatus for handling sawn timber of the type comprising an elongated conveyor for carrying timber pieces transversally of their longitudinal direction, a plurality of storage pockets placed at one side of the conveyor, and mechanical means for the automatical transfer of each timber piece to a selected storage pocket according to the dimension and/or quality class of the timber piece concerned.

United States Patent lnventor Olli lleikinheimo Helsinki, Finland Appl. No. 721,656 Filed Apr. 16, 1968 Patented Jan. 26, 1971 Assignee Plan-Sell 0y Helsinki, Finland a corporation of Finland Priority Apr. 19, 1967 Finland 1 157/67 APPARATUS FOR HANDLING SAWN TIMBER 6 Claims, 8 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl 209/125, 209/74 Int. Cl B07c 7/04 [50] Field of Search 209/72, 73, 74, 125

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,329,251 7/1967 Biloeq 209/74X 3,279,600 10/1966 Lawson ..l

Primary Examiner-Allen N. Knowles Attorney-Albert M. Parker ABSTRACT: The present invention relates to an apparatus for handling sawn timber of the type comprising an elongated conveyor for carrying timber pieces transversally of their longitudinal direction, a plurality of storage pockets placed at one side of the conveyor, and mechanical means for the automatical transfer of each timber piece to a selected storage pocket according to the dimension and/or quality class of the timber piece concerned.

mimimzem 3557.952

SHEET 1 [IF 3 011 Hf/K/NHE/MO A TTOR/VE Y.

PATENTEU JAN26 ISYI SHEET 2 OF 3 APPARATUS FOR HANDLING SAWN TIMBER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION At sawmills the sorting is most generally carried out in such manner that a plurality of workers manually pull the timber pieces from an elongated conveyor, on which the timber pieces are carried in a transversal position, to storage pockets situated at one side of the conveyor, and the sorting is thereat carried out by the eye. Alternatively the actual sorting can be carried out at an earlier working stage and the timber pieces be provided with sorting marks, so that the workers have only mechanically to pull out the timber pieces in accordance with the sorting marks. This work is extremely heavy, wherefore it becomes increasingly difficult to get regular workers for this purpose, and further the system requires a relatively great number of workers.

In order to facilitate the work and partially to reduce the labor requirement a plurality of more or less mechanized sorting apparatuses were therefore developed, falling in two principal groups, viz. the ones in which the timber pieces are transferred in their transverse direction, and the ones where the timber pieces are transferred in their longitudinal direction to the storage places. In the case of the first mentioned type the timber pieces, sorted according to dimension and/or quality class, are delivered with utilization of impulses synchronized with the movement of the timber pieces, onto storage places under the conveyor table, wherefrom the assembled bundles then are transferred further by means of conveyors, wagons or traverses to the following working step. According to the lastmentioned system again the timber pieces, sorted according to thickness dimension (and quality class), are conveyed on separate longitudinal conveyors and sorted then according to width dimension and delivered to the different storage places.

Common to all said prior known mechanical systems is the fact that it is necessary to construct entirely new sorting plants, whereat the investment requirement is so high that it is doubtful whether the final result will be economical in spite of the saving in labor. The system with the width sorting during longitudinal transfer of the timber pieces is possibly economically the more advantageous, but a limiting factor is the great space requirement in the longitudinal direction, which often makes the system unpracticable.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides an apparatus which besides permitting a reduction of the number of workers required with a moderate space requirement, also at the same time can be constructed with utilization of existing hand sorting plants, so that the investment requirement in relation to the achieved improvement will be considerably more moderate than in the case of the above-described automatized prior known sorting plants.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING In the accompanying drawing, which illustrates a couple of embodiments of the invention:

FIG. 1 shows a sorting plant according to the invention in plan view;

FIG. 2 shows a section along the line II-II of FIG. 1; FIG. 3 shows on a greater scale a detail in section along the line III-III of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 a section along the line IV-IV of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 shows another detail in section along the line V-V of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 6 a section along the line VI-VI of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 shows in a manner corresponding to FIG. 1 another embodiment of the invention; while FIG. 8 shows a detail as viewed in section along the line VIII-VIII of FIG. 7.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In the drawing reference numeral 1 designates a feeding plane for timber pieces, from which plane the pieces are one by one delivered in transversal position onto a catcherequipped distributing conveyor 2, which in its turn delivers the timber pieces evenly spaced on a sorting conveyor 3. Along one side of this elongated sorting conveyor are provided a plurality of storage places 7,, 7 7,, 7,, for the various dimensions and/or quality classes of timber. The storage places are arranged in piles at each side of delivery stations, which according to the invention each comprise a mechanical pullingout device 8,, 8 ....8,, 8,, and a distributing device which will be more fully described hereinafter. The pulling-out devices consist in the shown embodiment of a pair of rollers, one or both of which are driven and both extending parallely with the longitudinal direction of the conveyor 3 and both mounted elastically so as to form between the rollers an open gap directed against the travelling direction of the timber places, whereat the rollers at this end are conically tapering and at least the driven roller is formed with a helical ridge for moving the timber piece in toward the cylindrical portions of the rollers.

The pulling-out devices 8,8 are arranged mutually stepwise displaced in the transversal direction of conveyor 3 with the desired pitch, so that a pulling-out device, e.g. 8n, situated at a later position with respect to the travel direction of the timber piece is situated nearer the conveyor 3 than is the next preceding pulling-But device 8;, "rrle'earive' ar' 3 i s fapefi rigstepwise in a corresponding manner as required. By grouping the timber pieces on the conveyor 3 in a manner correspond-' ing to the grouping of the pulling-out devices 8 -8 it is possible to cause each timber piece to come into contact at the desired delivery station with the pulling-out device belonging there, but freely to pass all preceding pullingout prises for instance a conveyor for transverse displacement in the form of a table of rollers 4 provided in association with the distributing conveyor 2 with stop elements 5 arranged parallel to the conveyor chains and of a number corresponding to that of the pulling-out devices 8 --8, and having the same transverse displacement pitch as that of the pulling-out devices said stop elements 5 extending over the entire length of the rollers 4. The stop elements 5 must be so arranged that they normally assume an inactive position of repose but can be brought into active operational position through a selective sorting impulse for a particular piece of timber, and thereafter to follow the timber piece in the operational position during the entire time the timber piece remains on the rollers 4. An example of such a system of stop elements will be described in the following with reference to F I68. 3 and 4.

FIG. 3 shows a portion of the conveyor 2 with a roller 4. A

' plurality of block-formed stop elements 5 are arranged side by side, displaceable vertically within a frame 6. For guiding the vertical displacement of the stop elements 5 there is mounted on a shaft 18 a rotating cam body comprising at least one cam plate 19 for each stop element 5. Since the rollers 4 in the shown embodiment are of such length as to extend simultaneously over three catcher intervals of the conveyor 2, this means that three successively positioned timber pieces must be able to be delivered at the same storage place. Therefore there must be provided three shafts I8, 18 and 18 with cam plates 19, 19 and 19 as shown in FIG. 6. Said shafts are parallel to each other and the cam plates 19, I9 and 19 operate the stop elements 5 through a common pivotably mounted,

to an impulse received for a given piece of time timber. The cam plates 19 are therefore preferably shaped so that as the shaft starts rotating, all the stop elements 5 situated within the first catcher interval are simultaneously raised to operating position and thereafter a stop element in front of them with respect to the travel direction will successively be raised while the rearmost one is lowered back to inactive position, as indicated by arrows in FIG. 5. The stop elements thus follow the timber piece during the entire time the same is located within the operating zone of the rollers 4, thus retaining the timber piece in unchanging transverse displacement position on the conveyor 2.

The control system is so arranged that if the shaft already is active when a new impulse for the same stop element 5 is given, the impulse passes to the shaft 18,, and if this shaft also is already active, the impulse passes onto the shaft 18 The selection impulse can be given far in advance along the travel path of the timber pieces and in synchronism with their movement, or as late as in connection with the arrival of the timber pieces onto the conveyor 2. When the timber pieces have reached the sorting conveyor 3 they will be themselves be retained in a constant transverse displacement position all the time, so that each timber piece at its arrival to its destined storage place will be engaged and pulled out by the pulling-out device situated at that place. So for instance the second timber piece counted from the right, shown on the distributing conveyor 2 (FIG. 1) will be caught not before the penultimate pulling-out roller pair 8,, while the third so shown timber piece will be caught by the pulling-out roller pair 8 and so on.

For removal of the timber pieces at the storage places 7 7 there are in connection with each roller pair 8,--8, provided a triangular tiltably mounted guide plate 9 and an elongated slide plane sloping toward the sorting conveyor 3 (FIGS. 5 and 6). When a timber piece is pulled out by the rollers 8 at a storage plate 7, the leading end of the piece slides along the slide plane 10, but when the timber piece has passed entirely out of the roller pair 8, its trailing end will, guided by the guide plate 9 fall either to the right or to the left of the slide plane 10, depending on how the guide plate 9 is positioned, after which the leading end also falls over the edge of the slide plane 10.

Since all the storage places 7,7, preferably are aligned with each other while the sorting conveyor 3 is stepwise tapering, the pulling-out rollers 8 -8,, at the end portion of the conveyor will be successively further spaced from the storage places. It is therefore preferred to provide rollers respectively :f'roller tables 11 between the storage places and the further from them situated pulling-out roller pairs, as shown at the right-hand portion of FIG. 1.

FIGS. 7 and 8 illustrate another embodiment, which in its principal features is similar to that shown in FIGS. 1 to 6 and in which corresponding parts therefore are designated with the same, reference numerals. The embodiment according to FIGS. 7 and 8 thus comprises the feeding plane 1 and the therewith associated distributing conveyor 2 for delivery of the timber pieces onto the sorting conveyor 3. At one side of the conveyor 10 are provided the storage places 7 -7,, with the ancillary devices 9, 10 according to FIG. 5, 6 and in association therewith the pulling-out devices consisting of the roller pairs 8,8,,. In the present case all the pulling-out devices 8.8,, however are aligned with each other and positioned in the immediate proximity of the storage places 7 ,7, resulting in that the sorting conveyor 3 is not stepwise tapering in this case. In the pre'sent case also there is a roller table 4 provided in connection with the distributing conveyor 2 for the displacement of the timber pieces into the desired positions transversally, but instead of the stop element system 5 there is provided only one stationary stop element 12, which is so positioned that the timber pieces will freely pass the pullingout rollers 8,8,,. For the purpose of bringing a timber piece into engagement with the pulling-out rollers 8,-8, at the desired storage place 7,7,, there is therefore according to the shown embodiment a pushing element provided shortly detail in FIG. 8, a pushing element comprises an engaging head 13 mounted on the piston rod of a pneumatic or hydraulic cylinder 14 which in its turn is pivotably mounted above the conveyor 3 on a frame 15. On the frame 15 there is preferably also mounted a stop element 16 so positioned, that a timber piece which rests with its end against the stop element 16, will be engaged by the next pulling-out roller pair. The timber piece is brought to said position through a sorting impulse synchronized with the movement of the timber piece, said impulse, at the moment the timber piece arrives to the pushing element, actuating the cylinder 14 to bring the engagement head 13 into engagement with the timber piece soas to push the same toward the stop element 16 and then to return to its inactive position. To facilitate the displacement a roller 17 can be provided at the location shown in FIG. 8.

The invention is not restricted to the embodiments shown and described above of which various modifications are possible within the scope of the principle of the invention. So for instance in the embodiment shown in FIGS. 7,8, instead of the pushing elements 13,14 provided above the conveyor 3 it is possible to provide rollers for transversal displacement, which normally are situated at a level below the upper plane of the conveyor 3 but upon receipt an impulse synchronized with the movement of the timber piece will be raised to a position for engagement with the timber piece for displacement of the same toward the stop element 16 or directly into engagement with the pulling-out devices as shown schematically in FIG. 6. It is also possible to have all the pulling-out roller pairs aligned and to position the stop element 12 according to FIG. 5 so that the timber pieces will travel within reach of the pulling-out rollersv These are in that case arranged with a sufficient gap between the rollers to permit the timber pieces normally to pass between the rollers without being engaged by the same, while either the upper roller can be lowered or the lower one raised in response to a received sorting impulse so that each timber piece will be engaged by the pulling-out roller pair situated at the pertinent storage place.

Iclaim:

1. Apparatus for handling sawn timber pieces comprising an elongated conveyor for transport of timber pieces in a transverse position in the longitudinal direction of the conveyor, a plurality of storage pockets at one side of the conveyor spaced from each other in the longitudinal direction of the conveyor, a mechanical transfer means situated adjacent each of said storage pockets for transferring timber pieces in their longitudinal direction transversally of said conveyor towards said storage pockets, the mechanical transfer means adjacent each of said storage pockets being stepwise placed more towards the conveyor in the direction of travel thereof, selectively operated feeding means for bringing a selected timber piece into engagement with the transfer means at a desired storage pocket and transferring the timber piece into said storage pocket, said feeding means comprising a set of driven rollers placed in front of the first of said mechanical transfer means for displacing the timber pieces transversally of the conveyor towards the side thereof at which the storage pockets are situated and a plurality of stop means corresponding in number to the mechanical transfer means and each being aligned with a.

corresponding transfer means in the longitudinal direction of the conveyor, said stop means having an inoperative position and an operative position in which they stop the movement of a timber piece displaced by said driven rollers, and control means for selectively actuating any desired stop means to its operative position in synchronism with the advance of a selected timber piece for bringing said timber piece into a position transversally of the conveyor where it will be engaged by the mechanical transfer means upon arrival at the selected storage pocket.

2. Apparatus as in claim 1, each of said mechanical transfermeans comprising a pair of driven rollers extending substantially in the longitudinal direction of the conveyor and having an open gap between the rollers at the ends thereof facing the timber pieces arriving at the rollers carrier by the conveyor.

3. Apparatus for handling sawn timber pieces comprising an elongated conveyor for transport of timber pieces in a transverse position in the longitudinal direction of the conveyor, a plurality of storage pockets at one side of the conveyor spaced from each other in the longitudinal direction of the conveyor, a mechanical transfer means situated adjacent each of said storage pockets for transferring timber pieces in their longitudinal direction transversally of said conveyor towards said storage pockets, the mechanical transfer means adjacent each of said storage pockets being aligned with each other in the longitudinal direction of the conveyor outside of the path of travel of the timber pieces on the conveyor, and each of said transfer means comprising a pair of driven rollers extending substantially in the longitudinal direction of the conveyor and having an open gap between the rollers at the ends thereof facing the timber pieces arriving at the rollers, selectively operated feeding means for bringing a selected timber piece into engagement with the transfer means at a desired storage pocket and transferring the timber piece into said storage pocket, a feeding means and a stop means being placed in front of each of said transfer means, said feeding means having an inoperative position in which they allow the timber pieces to pass carried by the conveyor and an operative position in which they displace the timber pieces against the corresponding stop means into position for engagement with the corresponding transfer means, and control means for selectively actuating said feeding means to their operative position in synchronism with the advance of the timber pieces on the conveyor for said transferral of each timber piece into a selected storage pocket.

4. Apparatus as in claim 3, each of said feeding means comprising a fluid operated cylinder placed above the conveyor inclined towards the side thereof at which the storage pockets are situated and having a piston shaft movable between a retracted and an extended position respectively, a gripping member at the free end of said piston shaft being provided for engagement with a timber piece in the extracted position of said cylinder shaft and pushing said timber piece against the corresponding stop means.

5. Apparatus as in claim 3, each of said feeding means comprising a set of driven rollers substantially parallel with the longitudinal direction of the conveyor, said roller set being movable between a lower inoperative position beneath the path of travel of the timber pieces on said conveyor and an upper operative position in which said roller set will displace a timber piece against the corresponding stop means.

6. Apparatus for handling sawn timber pieces comprising an elongated conveyor for transport of timber pieces in a transverse position in the longitudinal direction of the conveyor, a plurality of storage pockets at one side of the conveyor spaced from each other in the longitudinal direction of the conveyor, a mechanical transfer means situated adjacent each of said storage pockets for transferring timber pieces in their longitudinal direction transversally of said conveyor towards said storage pockets, the mechanical transfer means adjacent each storage pocket being aligned with each other in the longitudinal direction of the conveyor in the path of travel of the timber pieces on said conveyor, each of said transfer means comprising a pair of driven rollers extending in the longitudinal direction of the conveyor to leave an open gap between the rollers, the rollers being movable in the vertical direction between an inoperative position in which the gap between the rollers allows a timber piece to pass and an operative position in which the rollers engage a timber piece for the transfer thereof to a storage pocket, selectively operated feeding means for bringing a selected timber piece into engagement with the transfer means at a desired storage pocket and transferring the timber piece into said storage pocket, said feeding means comprising means for adjusting the vertical position of said transfer rollers between the inoperative and operative positions thereof, and control means for selectively actuating the feeding means of a selected transfer roller pair to the operative position of said rollers in synchronism with the arrival of the selected timber piece at said transfer rollers. 

1. Apparatus for handling sawn timber pieces comprising an elongated conveyor for transport of timber pieces in a transverse position in the longitudinal direction of the conveyor, a plurality of storage pockets at one side of the conveyor spaced from each other in the longitudinal direction of the conveyor, a mechanical transfer means situated adjacent each of said storage pockets for transferring timBer pieces in their longitudinal direction transversally of said conveyor towards said storage pockets, the mechanical transfer means adjacent each of said storage pockets being stepwise placed more towards the conveyor in the direction of travel thereof, selectively operated feeding means for bringing a selected timber piece into engagement with the transfer means at a desired storage pocket and transferring the timber piece into said storage pocket, said feeding means comprising a set of driven rollers placed in front of the first of said mechanical transfer means for displacing the timber pieces transversally of the conveyor towards the side thereof at which the storage pockets are situated and a plurality of stop means corresponding in number to the mechanical transfer means and each being aligned with a corresponding transfer means in the longitudinal direction of the conveyor, said stop means having an inoperative position and an operative position in which they stop the movement of a timber piece displaced by said driven rollers, and control means for selectively actuating any desired stop means to its operative position in synchronism with the advance of a selected timber piece for bringing said timber piece into a position transversally of the conveyor where it will be engaged by the mechanical transfer means upon arrival at the selected storage pocket.
 2. Apparatus as in claim 1, each of said mechanical transfer means comprising a pair of driven rollers extending substantially in the longitudinal direction of the conveyor and having an open gap between the rollers at the ends thereof facing the timber pieces arriving at the rollers carrier by the conveyor.
 3. Apparatus for handling sawn timber pieces comprising an elongated conveyor for transport of timber pieces in a transverse position in the longitudinal direction of the conveyor, a plurality of storage pockets at one side of the conveyor spaced from each other in the longitudinal direction of the conveyor, a mechanical transfer means situated adjacent each of said storage pockets for transferring timber pieces in their longitudinal direction transversally of said conveyor towards said storage pockets, the mechanical transfer means adjacent each of said storage pockets being aligned with each other in the longitudinal direction of the conveyor outside of the path of travel of the timber pieces on the conveyor, and each of said transfer means comprising a pair of driven rollers extending substantially in the longitudinal direction of the conveyor and having an open gap between the rollers at the ends thereof facing the timber pieces arriving at the rollers, selectively operated feeding means for bringing a selected timber piece into engagement with the transfer means at a desired storage pocket and transferring the timber piece into said storage pocket, a feeding means and a stop means being placed in front of each of said transfer means, said feeding means having an inoperative position in which they allow the timber pieces to pass carried by the conveyor and an operative position in which they displace the timber pieces against the corresponding stop means into position for engagement with the corresponding transfer means, and control means for selectively actuating said feeding means to their operative position in synchronism with the advance of the timber pieces on the conveyor for said transferral of each timber piece into a selected storage pocket.
 4. Apparatus as in claim 3, each of said feeding means comprising a fluid operated cylinder placed above the conveyor inclined towards the side thereof at which the storage pockets are situated and having a piston shaft movable between a retracted and an extended position respectively, a gripping member at the free end of said piston shaft being provided for engagement with a timber piece in the extracted position of said cylinder shaft and pushing said timber piece against the corresponding stop means.
 5. Apparatus as in claim 3, each of saiD feeding means comprising a set of driven rollers substantially parallel with the longitudinal direction of the conveyor, said roller set being movable between a lower inoperative position beneath the path of travel of the timber pieces on said conveyor and an upper operative position in which said roller set will displace a timber piece against the corresponding stop means.
 6. Apparatus for handling sawn timber pieces comprising an elongated conveyor for transport of timber pieces in a transverse position in the longitudinal direction of the conveyor, a plurality of storage pockets at one side of the conveyor spaced from each other in the longitudinal direction of the conveyor, a mechanical transfer means situated adjacent each of said storage pockets for transferring timber pieces in their longitudinal direction transversally of said conveyor towards said storage pockets, the mechanical transfer means adjacent each storage pocket being aligned with each other in the longitudinal direction of the conveyor in the path of travel of the timber pieces on said conveyor, each of said transfer means comprising a pair of driven rollers extending in the longitudinal direction of the conveyor to leave an open gap between the rollers, the rollers being movable in the vertical direction between an inoperative position in which the gap between the rollers allows a timber piece to pass and an operative position in which the rollers engage a timber piece for the transfer thereof to a storage pocket, selectively operated feeding means for bringing a selected timber piece into engagement with the transfer means at a desired storage pocket and transferring the timber piece into said storage pocket, said feeding means comprising means for adjusting the vertical position of said transfer rollers between the inoperative and operative positions thereof, and control means for selectively actuating the feeding means of a selected transfer roller pair to the operative position of said rollers in synchronism with the arrival of the selected timber piece at said transfer rollers. 